Poison à la Carte

IX

Cramer was in the red leather chair. Carol Annis was in a yellow one facing Wolfe’s desk, with Purley on one side of her and his female colleague on the other. The male colleague had been sent to the laboratory with the plate of spaghetti and a roll of paper that had been fished from inside Carol’s dress. Fritz, Felix, and Zoltan were on the couch near the end of my desk.

“I will not pretend, Miss Annis,” Wolfe was saying. “One reason that I persuaded Mr. Cramer to have you brought here first on your way to limbo was that I needed to appease my rancor. You had injured and humiliated not only me but also one of my most valued friends, Fritz Brenner, and two other men whom I esteem, and I had arranged the situation that gave you your opportunity; and I wished them to witness your own humiliation, contrived by me, in my presence.”

“That’s enough of that,” Cramer growled.

Wolfe ignored him. “I admit the puerility of that reason, Miss Annis, but in candor I wanted to acknowledge it. A better reason was that I wished to ask you a few questions. You took such prodigious risks that it is hard to believe in your sanity, and it would give me no satisfaction to work vengeance on a madwoman. What would you have done if Felix’s eyes had been on you when you entered with the plate of poison and went to Mr. Pyle? Or if, when you returned to the kitchen for a second plate, Zoltan had challenged you? What would you have done?”

No answer. Apparently she was holding her gaze straight at Wolfe, but from my angle it was hard to tell because she still had the veil on. Asked by Cramer to remove it, she had refused. When the female dick had extracted the roll of paper from inside Carol’s dress she had asked Cramer if she should pull the veil off and Cramer had said no. No rough stuff.

There was no question about Wolfe’s gaze at her. He was forward in his chair, his palms flat on his desk. He persisted. “Will you answer me, Miss Annis?”

She wouldn’t.

“Are you a lunatic, Miss Annis?”

She wasn’t saying.

Wolfe’s head jerked to me. “Is she deranged, Archie?”

That was unnecessary. When we’re alone I don’t particularly mind his insinuations that I presume to be an authority on women, but there was company present. I gave him a look and snapped, “No comment.”

He returned to her. “Then that must wait. I leave to the police such matters as your procurement of the poison and your relations with Mr. Pyle, mentioning only that you cannot now deny possession of arsenic, since you used it a second time this evening. It will unquestionably be found in the spaghetti and in the roll of paper you concealed in your dress; and so, manifestly, if you are mad you are also ruthless and malevolent. You may have been intolerably provoked by Mr. Pyle, but not by Zoltan. He presented himself not as a nemesis or a leech, but as a bewitched and befuddled champion. He offered his homage and compassion, making no demands, and your counter-offer was death. I would myself—”

“You lie,” Carol said. It was her first word. “And he lied. He was going to lie about me. He didn’t see me go back for a second plate, but he was going to say he did. And you lie. He did make demands. He threatened me.”

Wolfe’s brows went up. “Then you haven’t been told?”

“Told what?”

“That you were overheard. That is the other question I had for you. I have no apology for contriving the trap, but you deserve to know you are in its jaws. All that you and Zoltan said was heard by two men at the other end of a wire in another room, and they recorded it — Mr. Stebbins of the police, now seated at your left, and Mr. Goodwin.”

“You lie,” she said.

“No, Miss Annis. This isn’t the trap; it has already sprung. You have it, Mr. Stebbins?”

Purley nodded. He hates to answer questions from Wolfe.

“Archie?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did Zoltan threaten her or make demands?”

“No, sir. He followed instructions.”

He returned to Carol. “Now you know. I wanted to make sure of that. To finish, since you may have had a just and weighty grievance against Mr. Pyle, I would myself prefer to see you made to account for your attempt to kill Zoltan, but that is not in my discretion. In any case, my rancor is appeased, and I hold—”

“That’s enough,” Cramer blurted, leaving his chair. “I didn’t agree to let you preach at her all night. Bring her along, Sergeant.”

As Purley arose a voice came. “May I say something?” It was Fritz. Heads turned as he left the couch and moved, detouring around Zoltan’s feet and Purley’s bulk to get to Carol, and turning to stand looking down at her.

“On account of what Mr. Wolfe said,” he told her. “He said you injured me, and that is true. It is also true that I wanted him to find you. I can’t speak for Felix, and you tried to kill Zoltan and I can’t speak for him, but I can speak for myself. I forgive you.”

“You lie,” Carol said.